Homeless man sues Valencia, Full Sail for free education

James Ross lives in a tent in the woods. He bathes with a jug of water, washes laundry in public restrooms when he has to and walks 10 miles a day or more to work, shop, eat and run errands.

He has no formal legal education. Yet he's taking on two Orlando law firms and the colleges they represent, potentially setting off a skirmish with far-reaching implications.

Ross is suing Valencia College and Full Sail University under an obscure provision of Florida law that says those who lack "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence" can attend the state's universities, colleges and trade schools without paying tuition or other fees.

"I make a confession in full that I am a genuine social misfit," Ross said in a recent interview. "But I have a lot of questions about life, and I wasn't satisfied being in the dark."

At 47, he is eloquent and resourceful and manages to keep himself well-groomed, despite the lack of a home with four walls. With no other means of transportation, he walks for hours at a stretch through sweltering heat and thunderstorms to do legal research, visit the courthouse or attend meetings.

He works odd jobs — mostly manual labor — when he can find them, but the recent economy has made work scarce, which is why he decided last winter to go to college. He was staying in a shelter at the time.

While filling out forms for student loans, someone happened to mention: "You know, if you're homeless, you don't have to pay an application fee."

"No," he said, "I didn't know that."

Nor, apparently, do many other people.

But state Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, did. Ross went to her office for assistance one day in late winter, and she pulled a volume of Florida Revised Statutes off the shelf and copied the pertinent section — Chapter 1009, Section 25, Subsection (f) — which is when Ross discovered that the provision applied not only to application fees, but to tuition and other fees as well.

"He seemed very articulate and logical, and indicated he wanted to go to college," Thompson said. "He just said he was homeless and understood there was some kind of a statute, so we looked it up together."

Thompson happens to be a former instructor at Valencia. Asked whether she knew of any homeless person who had ever made use of the statute, she said, "I doubt they know about it."

The provision, passed in 2002, is part of a larger section of state law outlining who is exempt from paying tuition at the state's postsecondary institutions. Another, better-known provision, for instance, exempts teens who are in the state's foster-care system when they turn 18.

Jacqueline Dowd, an Orlando attorney who founded a nonprofit firm to represent poor and homeless clients, said, "I've never heard of it."

Eric Tars, director of human-rights programs for the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, said he had heard of it only in passing.

"As far as I'm aware, Florida is the only state with a law like that," he said. "But I've never heard of anyone actually using it."

Ross said he then attempted to apply at Valencia, but that computer wouldn't process his application without his paying a fee, which he didn't have. He took the issue to the college's business office, which he said turned him away. He didn't fare much better at Full Sail.

That's when he decided to sue. His civil suit seeks $100 million, but Ross insists he only used the figure to get their attention. What he really wants, he said, is to study writing and filmmaking.

"I am an artist," he said.

Attorneys for Valencia College and Full Sail University have each filed a motion to dismiss, although for different reasons.

"Point blank, the statute simply doesn't apply to Full Sail" because it's a private institution, said John "Jack" Lord, a partner with Foley & Lardner, who read Ross's handwritten suit. "He is not unintelligent. … I wanted to see if there was something we might be able to do for him, but there just wasn't."

Attorneys for Valencia would not comment on the case because it is ongoing. But Lisa Augspurger, a partner at Bush & Augspurger who is handling the case, said in court documents that Ross should have directed his suit to the college's board of trustees.

Carol Traynor, senior public-relations manager at the college, said Friday, "I do know anecdotally that homeless people have attended Valencia under that statute, but I can't tell you the numbers" — at least, not without a day or two to research the issue.

The court has set an Aug. 28 date to hear the motions.

Ross — who has been homeless on and off since age 14, who admits he struggles with mental-health issues, who has worked at everything from sales to commercial fishing, who was once married and has an adult son — knows that many observers will not take his side.

"Someone said to me, 'Why do you deserve a free education?' " he said. "I can understand that, if they had to pay for it — and if they never had any suffering in their life. But I would like to make myself more valuable to society."

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the amount of James Ross' lawsuit. His civil suit is in the amount of $100 million.